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So, let's build our first Cypher character! Quick disclaimer: Yeah, I've skimmed through the character creation process. If you know something that I've messed up, please correct me! We don't want to spread mis-information here on Prismatica! Also, it's been a literal decade since I've last watched Ranma 1/2, so this character build may be somewhat lacking, as I'm going off of my memory mostly (with a quick reference to Fandom).
First, I chose Akane because she's not all that weird. She's a typical teenage girl, somebody whom you may find walking the streets of Japan, on her way to school, for example. This post is about demonstrating how easy it is to create a basic character concept in the Cypher System.
Synopsis: Akane is 15 years old, has long straight black hair, and brown eyes. She's also fairly competent at martial arts, a specific style of Karate known as the Anything Goes style. She hates most boys, despite the fact that she could have any boy of her choosing at her school. I guess she's really pretty. She's also a notoriously bad cook. Literally, she's put people in the hospital from her lack of cooking skills. She's also kinda smart, but kind of oblivious, so I'm not sure how to incorporate that yet.
Cypher uses a sentence structure to define a character concept of "I'm a [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] who [VERB]s." In mechanics terms this translates to a Descriptor (adjective), Type (noun), and Focus (verb). So let's begin filling in this sentence, and the book suggests that we begin with the Type. there are four primary Types to choose from. Akane is most definitely a Warrior. But we don't have to use this specific word! The book suggests other terms, like Fighter, Swordsman, Knight, Barbarian, Soldier, Detective, Brawler, Trooper, Merc, Hero, Bruiser, etc... But we don't even have to use those. Any term that conveys the thought of a Warrior will work fine. And being that Martial Artist most certainly conveys the idea of a fighter, we'll use that term. Akane Tendo is a Martial Artist.
Next let's look at Akane's Descriptor. What's her core personality? Page 39 give us a nice list of options to choose from, and looking through this list, some options pop right out at me: Brash, Guarded, Impulsive, and Strong-Willed. So let's look at these four options first. If none of these fit well enough, I have other supplements that I can browse through as well.
Brash: You're a self-assertive sort, confident in your abilities, energetic and perhaps a bit irreverent toward ideas that you don't agree with....
Guarded: You conceal your true nature behind a mask and are loath to let anyone see who you really are...
Impulsive: You have a hard time tamping down your enthusiasm. Why wait when you can just do it and get it done?...
Strong-Willed: You're tough-minded, willful and independent. No one can talk you into anything or change your mind when you don't want it changed...
After reading the full description for each of these, I feel that Akane fits Strong-Willed the most. She doesn't care what others thing about her, and contrary to typical Japanese culture, she's rather independent: yeah, she hates boys too. We're going to emphasis this feature of her personality for her character concept.
Next we need to figure out what her Focus is. What is it that she does? This one is going to be the hardest part of modeling a Cypher character after a Canon Character. And there's no handy-dandy list to quickly scan through, so...I'll be back in a moment...
Defends the Weak: You stand up for the helpless, the weak and the unprotected.
Helps Their Friends: You love your friends and help them out of any difficulty, no matter what.
Learns Quickly: You deal with bad situations as they arise, learning new lessons each time.
Metes Out Justice: You right wrongs, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty.
Needs No Weapon: Powerful punches, kicks, elbows, knees, and full body movements are all the weapons you need.
Rages: When you go berserk, everyone fears you.
Slays Monsters: (*) You kill monsters. (*This one would have to be modified, because she does tend to obliterate boys.)
So the above list is what I've narrowed Akane's Focus down to. Now I do have the ability to create a custom Focus for Akane, but I'd like to try to just keep to the core book for this example. And from this list, I think Needs No Weapon will fit Akane pretty well. So let's put together what we've got so far.
Warriors get the following base Stats: Might (10), Speed (10), and Intellect (8). Plus six (6) points to distribute into her Stats. Her Effort is one (1). Her Might Edge is one (1), has a Speed Edge of zero (0), OR she has a Might Edge of zero (0) and a Speed Edge of (1). Either way, her Intellect Edge is zero (0). Akane can use two (2) Cyphers at a time, and is practiced with light, medium, and heavy weapons. She starts off with appropriate clothing and two (2) weapons of her choice, plus one (1) expensive item, two (2) moderately priced items and up to four (4) inexpensive items. She also gets to choose four (4) of the following abilities: Bash, Combat Prowess, Control the Field, Improved Edge, No Need for Weapons, Overwatch, Physical Skills, Practiced in Armor, Quick Throw, Swipe, Trained Without Armor
I'll get back to her Stats. first, let's create her look. Although she starts out with two weapons, she's a Martial Artist, and one of the First Tier thingies she has available is No Need for Weapons. That's on page 166. Let's check it out. (The nice thing about the PDF is that these are all hyperlinked.)
And, while we're at it, let's check out Needs No Weapon Focus.
Improved Edge: Choose one of your Edge Stats that is zero (0). It increases to one (1). Enabler.
Physical Skills: You are trained in two (2) skills in which you are not already trained. Choose two (2) of the following: Balancing, Climbing, Jumping, Running, or Swimming. You can select this ability multiple times. Each time you select it, you must choose two (2) different skills. Enabler.
We'll choose Balancing and Running.
Swipe: (1 Speed Point) - This is a quick, agile melee attack. Your attack inflicts one (1) less point of damage than normal but dazes your target for one (1) round, during which t,me all tasks it performs are hindered. Action.
Now, let's go buy Akane some things. She has appropriate clothing. It's modern day Japan, and Akane is typically seen wearing simple dresses, a typical Japanese Sailor-style school uniform, and she probably owns a Gi. As for the two weapons, we'll give her a Bokken (a wooden practice katana) and we'll give her Bo (a Quarterstaff). She also gets one expensive item. Looking at chapter ten (10), we'll quickly be redirected to the specific genre of Modern, and look at page 264 so that we can pick out some prized possessions for Akane. As tempted as I am to get Akane a Straightjacket (in Ranma's size), and despite Ranma 1/2 being produced in the 1990s, before the age of modern Smartphones, every girl needs a lifeline. I don't see Akane hoarding hours doomscrolling in Social Media, she'd rather perfect her martial form instead. She gets a Smartphone. Akane also receives two moderately priced items. Being that Akane is the type of character that holds the group of rather rogue martial arts together while they get lost (note: Don't ever follow Ryoga anywhere!), I could see Akane having a First Aid Kit and I'll give her a pair of Binoculars, so that she can spot trouble from further distances. Finally, she has four inexpensive items. (Note, already, there's a problem with this rule book as she is given the most number of itesm from this category, but this category has the least number of things to choose from. I'm disappointed, and will proceed to make some shit up now.) Akane always for some reason has a hot tea kettle, a cast-iron skillet, a school briefcase/bag, and a comfey blanket.
Now that this first part is complete, we should fill in some background details. The Warrior Type gives us a handy little table that we can either choose or roll from to add a background detail. Let's first roll to see what we've got. If I don't feel I can have it align with Akane's true history, I'll just choose one of the twenty (20) options.
Although I have quite the imagination, and I'm pretty sure that Akane and crew found themselves in more than one incarceration experience throughout their eight seasons of the anime (following Ryoga, or keeping Ranma's problem a secret), I feel that this option fits much better:
Moving on, we still need to fill out some Descriptor stuff. Akane gets Willful. This adds a +4 to her Intellect Pool. She is also Trained in Resisiting Mental Effects, and she's trained in tasks that require incredible focus or concentration. She does have an inability. Per the rule book:
Next, we need to add a bit more background detail. I get to choose one of the following four options explaining why Akane is a part of the current band of misfits (whom have yet to be created)
We'll go with the first option. She was kinda forced into the situation. I mean, becoming the fiancee of Ranma would be against my better judgement too!
The final thing we need to do, according to the quick start guide, is to pick a Character Arc. These are found in Chapter 12, starting on page 242. So, let's see here...
Establishment (page 245) - You want to prove yourself as someone of importance.
This would fit Akane's world view perfectly. She's the youngest daughter of three, and the only one who is still determined to carry on her father's work with the Anything Goes dojo.
Now that we've got all that filled out, let's allocate our six (6) Stat points. Okay, so let's analyze Akane's personality a bit. She's a fighter, a tomboy. The rough-and tough kinda kid. She's gonna want to be stronger than most girls, especially fighting with boys. Plus, Might is where you health is drawn from first. Also to consider, she's already got a +4 in Intellect, and somebody who is Strong-Willed can be stubborn. I'm going to put four (4) points in to Might and another two (2) into Speed.
First, I chose Akane because she's not all that weird. She's a typical teenage girl, somebody whom you may find walking the streets of Japan, on her way to school, for example. This post is about demonstrating how easy it is to create a basic character concept in the Cypher System.
Synopsis: Akane is 15 years old, has long straight black hair, and brown eyes. She's also fairly competent at martial arts, a specific style of Karate known as the Anything Goes style. She hates most boys, despite the fact that she could have any boy of her choosing at her school. I guess she's really pretty. She's also a notoriously bad cook. Literally, she's put people in the hospital from her lack of cooking skills. She's also kinda smart, but kind of oblivious, so I'm not sure how to incorporate that yet.
Cypher uses a sentence structure to define a character concept of "I'm a [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] who [VERB]s." In mechanics terms this translates to a Descriptor (adjective), Type (noun), and Focus (verb). So let's begin filling in this sentence, and the book suggests that we begin with the Type. there are four primary Types to choose from. Akane is most definitely a Warrior. But we don't have to use this specific word! The book suggests other terms, like Fighter, Swordsman, Knight, Barbarian, Soldier, Detective, Brawler, Trooper, Merc, Hero, Bruiser, etc... But we don't even have to use those. Any term that conveys the thought of a Warrior will work fine. And being that Martial Artist most certainly conveys the idea of a fighter, we'll use that term. Akane Tendo is a Martial Artist.
Next let's look at Akane's Descriptor. What's her core personality? Page 39 give us a nice list of options to choose from, and looking through this list, some options pop right out at me: Brash, Guarded, Impulsive, and Strong-Willed. So let's look at these four options first. If none of these fit well enough, I have other supplements that I can browse through as well.
Brash: You're a self-assertive sort, confident in your abilities, energetic and perhaps a bit irreverent toward ideas that you don't agree with....
Guarded: You conceal your true nature behind a mask and are loath to let anyone see who you really are...
Impulsive: You have a hard time tamping down your enthusiasm. Why wait when you can just do it and get it done?...
Strong-Willed: You're tough-minded, willful and independent. No one can talk you into anything or change your mind when you don't want it changed...
After reading the full description for each of these, I feel that Akane fits Strong-Willed the most. She doesn't care what others thing about her, and contrary to typical Japanese culture, she's rather independent: yeah, she hates boys too. We're going to emphasis this feature of her personality for her character concept.
Next we need to figure out what her Focus is. What is it that she does? This one is going to be the hardest part of modeling a Cypher character after a Canon Character. And there's no handy-dandy list to quickly scan through, so...I'll be back in a moment...
Defends the Weak: You stand up for the helpless, the weak and the unprotected.
Helps Their Friends: You love your friends and help them out of any difficulty, no matter what.
Learns Quickly: You deal with bad situations as they arise, learning new lessons each time.
Metes Out Justice: You right wrongs, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty.
Needs No Weapon: Powerful punches, kicks, elbows, knees, and full body movements are all the weapons you need.
Rages: When you go berserk, everyone fears you.
Slays Monsters: (*) You kill monsters. (*This one would have to be modified, because she does tend to obliterate boys.)
So the above list is what I've narrowed Akane's Focus down to. Now I do have the ability to create a custom Focus for Akane, but I'd like to try to just keep to the core book for this example. And from this list, I think Needs No Weapon will fit Akane pretty well. So let's put together what we've got so far.
Warriors get the following base Stats: Might (10), Speed (10), and Intellect (8). Plus six (6) points to distribute into her Stats. Her Effort is one (1). Her Might Edge is one (1), has a Speed Edge of zero (0), OR she has a Might Edge of zero (0) and a Speed Edge of (1). Either way, her Intellect Edge is zero (0). Akane can use two (2) Cyphers at a time, and is practiced with light, medium, and heavy weapons. She starts off with appropriate clothing and two (2) weapons of her choice, plus one (1) expensive item, two (2) moderately priced items and up to four (4) inexpensive items. She also gets to choose four (4) of the following abilities: Bash, Combat Prowess, Control the Field, Improved Edge, No Need for Weapons, Overwatch, Physical Skills, Practiced in Armor, Quick Throw, Swipe, Trained Without Armor
I'll get back to her Stats. first, let's create her look. Although she starts out with two weapons, she's a Martial Artist, and one of the First Tier thingies she has available is No Need for Weapons. That's on page 166. Let's check it out. (The nice thing about the PDF is that these are all hyperlinked.)
And, while we're at it, let's check out Needs No Weapon Focus.
Improved Edge: Choose one of your Edge Stats that is zero (0). It increases to one (1). Enabler.
Physical Skills: You are trained in two (2) skills in which you are not already trained. Choose two (2) of the following: Balancing, Climbing, Jumping, Running, or Swimming. You can select this ability multiple times. Each time you select it, you must choose two (2) different skills. Enabler.
We'll choose Balancing and Running.
Swipe: (1 Speed Point) - This is a quick, agile melee attack. Your attack inflicts one (1) less point of damage than normal but dazes your target for one (1) round, during which t,me all tasks it performs are hindered. Action.
Now, let's go buy Akane some things. She has appropriate clothing. It's modern day Japan, and Akane is typically seen wearing simple dresses, a typical Japanese Sailor-style school uniform, and she probably owns a Gi. As for the two weapons, we'll give her a Bokken (a wooden practice katana) and we'll give her Bo (a Quarterstaff). She also gets one expensive item. Looking at chapter ten (10), we'll quickly be redirected to the specific genre of Modern, and look at page 264 so that we can pick out some prized possessions for Akane. As tempted as I am to get Akane a Straightjacket (in Ranma's size), and despite Ranma 1/2 being produced in the 1990s, before the age of modern Smartphones, every girl needs a lifeline. I don't see Akane hoarding hours doomscrolling in Social Media, she'd rather perfect her martial form instead. She gets a Smartphone. Akane also receives two moderately priced items. Being that Akane is the type of character that holds the group of rather rogue martial arts together while they get lost (note: Don't ever follow Ryoga anywhere!), I could see Akane having a First Aid Kit and I'll give her a pair of Binoculars, so that she can spot trouble from further distances. Finally, she has four inexpensive items. (Note, already, there's a problem with this rule book as she is given the most number of itesm from this category, but this category has the least number of things to choose from. I'm disappointed, and will proceed to make some shit up now.) Akane always for some reason has a hot tea kettle, a cast-iron skillet, a school briefcase/bag, and a comfey blanket.
Now that this first part is complete, we should fill in some background details. The Warrior Type gives us a handy little table that we can either choose or roll from to add a background detail. Let's first roll to see what we've got. If I don't feel I can have it align with Akane's true history, I'll just choose one of the twenty (20) options.
Although I have quite the imagination, and I'm pretty sure that Akane and crew found themselves in more than one incarceration experience throughout their eight seasons of the anime (following Ryoga, or keeping Ranma's problem a secret), I feel that this option fits much better:
Akane's mentor would obviously be her father, and I could see him writing a book to spread awareness of the Anything Goes Style of Martial Arts. it could also be one of the many reasons why Akane Tendo is so popular with the boys...? Hmmm.....
Moving on, we still need to fill out some Descriptor stuff. Akane gets Willful. This adds a +4 to her Intellect Pool. She is also Trained in Resisiting Mental Effects, and she's trained in tasks that require incredible focus or concentration. She does have an inability. Per the rule book:
Next, we need to add a bit more background detail. I get to choose one of the following four options explaining why Akane is a part of the current band of misfits (whom have yet to be created)
We'll go with the first option. She was kinda forced into the situation. I mean, becoming the fiancee of Ranma would be against my better judgement too!
The final thing we need to do, according to the quick start guide, is to pick a Character Arc. These are found in Chapter 12, starting on page 242. So, let's see here...
Establishment (page 245) - You want to prove yourself as someone of importance.
This would fit Akane's world view perfectly. She's the youngest daughter of three, and the only one who is still determined to carry on her father's work with the Anything Goes dojo.
Now that we've got all that filled out, let's allocate our six (6) Stat points. Okay, so let's analyze Akane's personality a bit. She's a fighter, a tomboy. The rough-and tough kinda kid. She's gonna want to be stronger than most girls, especially fighting with boys. Plus, Might is where you health is drawn from first. Also to consider, she's already got a +4 in Intellect, and somebody who is Strong-Willed can be stubborn. I'm going to put four (4) points in to Might and another two (2) into Speed.
